This is a method that KGS uses to improve students’ English abilities in general.
In this time, I would like to introduce one of the methods effective to improve vocabulary, reading and speaking at the same time within a short period of time.
This method is effective especially for learners who are above high school age and whose English abilities are above intermediate.
At my school, we use a book which introduces news written both in English and Japanese.
The book introduces the same article both in English and Japanese and the English article is on the left side page and the Japanese article is on the right side page. So that students can alternately read both pages without turning a page.
The instructor usually conducts the lesson as follows. The instructor, of course, needs to be trained in order to conduct this lesson.
Pre-reading
1. The instructor asks the student to read the paragraph 1 of the Japanese translation silently for at most of 20 seconds. This is not difficult for most of learners since it is Japanese.
2. The instructor asks the student to read the paragraph 1 of the English article aloud for the first time.
3. The instructor asks the student to underline words the student doesn’t know in the paragraph 1 on the English article and the synonyms in the paragraph 1 on Japanese translation.
Repeat step 1-3 until the end for the entire article. The point is to divide one article into paragraphs which makes students easier to read.
Synchronized reading
4. The instructor reads the article and the student reads the article as the instructor reads it naturally.
5. The instructor doesn’t stop even though the student hesitates. The student should catch up from where he/she can catch up.
Repeat 4-5 for several times until the student can read at the same time as the native instructor reads.
Shadowing
6. Now the instructor asks the student to fold up the book.
7. The instructor reads each phrase a little slower. The first phrase means “Chinese dissident Liu Xiabao has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia,” a group of words that readers can understand the least content.
8. The second phrase means “because he is imprisoned in China and no representative of the laureate was allowed to leave the country to receive the award,” in other words, a sentence will be divided if there is a conjunction in-between. In this way, the hurdle of shadowing goes down.
9. The instructor asks the student to say the phrase the instructor reads without looking at the book.
10. Repeat 6-9 for 4-5 times until the student can say the sentences immediately after the instructor reads without the instructor stopping in-between phrases. This is almost like memorizing the article.
11. This means the student must be able to recite sentences after the instructor when the instructor reads out the article a little slower than the natural speed.
Slash Reading
12. The instructor asks the student to read the article writing slashes. The purpose of putting slashes is to divide the article into words or phrases which tells you the least messages.
For example, “Chinese dissident /Liu Xiabao /has been awarded /the Nobel Peace Prize /in absentia /because he is imprisoned /in China /and no representative of the laureate/ was allowed /to leave the country /to receive /the award”
13. Of course the student does this slash reading until the end of the article. This makes learners remember vocabulary and this works as a double check of Pre-Reading.
Summarization
Now the student summarizes each paragraph on his/her own words. For example, “Liu Xiabao is a Chinese dissident who has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But he couldn’t attend the ceremony because he was in the jail.”
Dictation
14. The instructor reads the article a little slower and the student dictates the article in his/her notebook.
15. If he/she has some words he/she doesn’t spell, leave spaces and keep on dictating.
16. This continues until he/she can fill out all the spaces she can’t dictate.
Answering questions and Discussion
The instructor assigns 5-10 questions.
For example, “Why do you think Liu Xiabao has been arrested?”
The above procedure and exercises make students progress dramatically so that KGS turns out students with high English abilities. However we provide lessons for those who just want to enjoy, too.
